If the MBTA semester pass mom and dad bought at the beginning of the semester is stolen or lost this month, don’t go crying to Charlie – it’s not his policy to help.

Each semester, 5,000 Boston University students purchase an MBTA semester pass, and a few report their pass lost or stolen each year, said Dwight Atherton, director of BU’s Parking and Transportation Services.

If a pass is lost, Atherton said his office will not issue a replacement for the remainder of the month, because BU must follow the MBTA policy of not issuing substitute passes.

Although the MBTA cannot help students in this situation, BU tries to accommodate transportation needs by providing them with a copy of their receipt.

“We will print out a document that will show the purchase was made by a particular student,” Atherton said. “We inform that student that they can show it to the T drivers.”

The printout is unofficial, so the T driver makes the decision whether to accept or decline the receipt, Atherton said.

Atherton said the printout has been common for several years, but College of Arts and Sciences sophomore Courtney Downing, who lost her MBTA pass last fall, said she was not aware of any way to replace the pass or get a receipt.

“I really don’t remember if the [document printout] was an option,” she said. “It was toward the end of the month, so I thought I might as well wait. By that time, I had already decided not to bother getting [a new pass] for the next semester.”

Atherton described the receipt policy as “a good-faith effort to attempt to provide a reasonable alternative to students who’ve had their passes stolen.”

By purchasing the semester pass at a discounted rate, students get four monthly passes, which helps them to save 11 percent and the trouble of maintaining fare on a CharlieCard.

With the addition of the CharlieCard in January, the number of orders for the MBTA semester pass dropped by a few hundred students, Atherton said. Before the price changes, the most popular pass among students was the Subway pass, which was recommended by the university and cost $156.64 for the semester. The most popular product is the Zone1A pass, which costs $210.04 and covers all major lines in the downtown area as well as the first zone of the commuter rail, buses and boats in the bay.

Atherton said the price change could have caused fewer students to get the semester pass last spring, but the numbers are on the rebound.

“I’ve had a semester T pass for the past two semesters, and I plan to get one for the next three years,” said College of Fine Arts sophomore Julie Cohen. “It is so easy.”

The MBTA did not respond to messages left over the phone.